Laredo paranormal researcher Ismael Cuellar points a laser at the Marfa Lights on Saturday from the Marfa Lights Viewing Area, nine miles east of Marfa. The society he founded was part of Presidio's first Border Zone International UFO Festival last weekend.

PRESIDIO - Over the decades, the trail has grown faint for the UFO buffs investigating a fiery collision in the Chihuahuan Desert south of here between a small plane and what some believe was a silvery metal spaceship.

Although the mysterious disk was quickly seized and whisked away by a special UFO recovery team from Fort Bliss in El Paso, according to some accounts, the interest and intrigue have only grown.

Last weekend, the inaugural "Border Zone International UFO Festival" brought veteran UFO sleuths and curiosity-seekers from around the country to ponder this and other mysteries.

"We're hoping this convention will bring forth new witnesses. We've spoken to two already," said Noe Torres, a librarian from McAllen, who co-authored a book about the 1974 crash near Coyame, Mexico.

"We had never had anyone on the U.S. side say they'd seen it happen. We're extremely excited," he said Friday of the purported new eyewitnesses.

Among the UFO heavyweights on the program was nuclear physicist Stanton Friedman, who has been investigating such visitations since the late 1950s, most particularly, the supposed crash of a spaceship in Roswell, N.M., in 1947.

Audience of three

His message was simple: Evidence of visits by intelligent extraterrestrials to Earth is overwhelming, and only a government cover-up, which he called the "Cosmic Watergate," keeps the public in the dark.

To aliens, he said, humans likely appear to be a very ignorant, violent species whose main activity is making bombs and fighting each other.

"Why don't the aliens land and talk to us? I don't talk to squirrels in my backyard. Why would they want to talk to us?" he asked.

Patterned after an elaborate three-day festival in Roswell that draws thousands each year, the infant Presidio version got off to a crawling start.

"I have no doubt there are UFOs. They are here, observing us," she said during a break.

Later sessions were better with about 20 attending Friedman's Friday night speech. By Saturday afternoon, most of the 100 seats were occupied.

Brad Newton, the city's tourism and economic development director, took solace in the nearly 25,000 hits the UFO website has received in three months.

"I personally haven't seen any UFOs, but there are a lot of things I haven't seen. But if I do see one, I'm gonna take a real clear picture," he joked.

Presidio's image

The improbable convention is something of a coming-out party for Presidio, (pop. 5,000) which just a few decades ago was a hardship post of packing sheds, unpaved roads and third-rate tourist accommodations.

Presidio's school district, the best in the Big Bend, boasts an enviable graduation rate and a record of innovative thinking and ambitious programs.

Last spring, three Presidio High School students went to Washington to be recognized by President Barack Obama for their accomplishments in a national rocketry competition. Two weeks ago, a student-designed experiment on bacteria and gravity was carried into space by rocket and delivered to the International Space Station.

The district has long provided affordable housing to teachers, some of whom it recruits from the Philippines. It also generates electricity from solar and wind projects.

The city has added sidewalks, good roads and landscaping downtown. A corridor of palms now guides travelers on their way to Mexico.

Local reaction

The city is building an aquatic center, has restored its airport to full operations and is in talks about reopening the long-closed international rail bridge.

"This is our first national and international tourist event. It's a big deal for us," Newton said.

"We look forward to making it an annual thing. Humans and ET aliens alike seem to love to visit the Big Bend and Presidio," he said.

Not everyone in town was entirely in sync with the UFO mania. At the Patio Restaurant, old-timers drinking coffee Friday reacted with incomprehension.

"I don't believe in it (UFOs) until I see it or see some evidence," said Rene Falcon, 71.

"I don't want to believe in them because I'm afraid the aliens might stop by some time and take me for a ride," he added with laughter.

Brushing off the low attendance in Presidio, Dusty Huckabee, an organizer of the Roswell UFO Festival that now packs the town for three days each July, said these things can take time to blossom.

"Have fun and have patience. You may be surprised at how serious it gets," he counseled by telephone.

"We did it as a gimmick in 1995 and had about 200 people. Then it started taking off. Now we book 5,000 motel rooms for the weekend and 1,000 people a day visit the museum," he said.